Obama on Meryl Streep: ‘Michelle knows I love her’ — and there’s nothing she can do

Though the first lady probably shouldn’t feel threatened, President Obama said Monday that his wife has long been aware of his love for another woman: three-time Academy Award-winner Meryl Streep.

“I’ve said it publicly, I love Meryl Streep,” Obama told an audience gathered in the East Room, where Streep was one of nearly 20 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “I love her,” he continued. “Her husband knows I love her. Michelle knows I love her. There’s nothing either of them can do about it.”

{mosads}The “Into the Woods” star is married to sculptor Don Gummer.

But it appears that the first lady has a “love” of her own. While giving remarks about another Medal of Freedom honoree, Obama said to laughs from the crowd, “Don’t get Michelle talking about Stevie Wonder.”

Obama said the first album he ever bought with his own money was “Talking Book” by the “Superstition” singer.

“I was 10 years old, maybe 11 — with my own cash,” Obama said. “I didn’t have a lot of it. That thing was so worn out, it had all scratches. Young people: you don’t remember this, but you had albums, and it’d get scratched.”

Retiring Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), journalist Tom Brokaw, Ethel Kennedy and Marlo Thomas were among the other recipients of the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Spotted in the audience: Vice President Biden, Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), James Clyburn (S.C.),  Cedric Richmond (La.), John Lewis (Ga.), Joe Kennedy (Mass.), Bennie Thompson (Miss.) and Steny Hoyer (Md.), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Attorney General Eric Holder, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Rep.-elect Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D).